PA Judge in Email Porn Scandal Steps Down

PITTSBURGH (CN) – One week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended him amid allegations that he sent or received 234 pornographic emails over a four-year period, Justice Seamus McCaffrey formally retired Monday. A former Philadelphia police officer and U.S. Marine, McCaffery’s earlier claim to fame stemmed from his 1998 creation of an “Eagles Court” at the Veterans Stadium, a former sports complex in South Philadelphia, to discipline unruly fans during games. Before winning a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2007, McCaffrey presided over the Philadelphia Municipal Court and the State Superior Court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended McCaffrey last week based on his public acceptance of “responsibility for exchanging hundreds of sexually explicit emails with a member or members of the Office of Attorney General, which surfaced in the course of the Attorney General’s review of the handling of the Gerald Sandusky investigation.” The chief justice described some of the material in question, sent between 2008 and 2012, as “extremely disturbing,” according to that Oct. 21 order. “Some pictures and videos in the emails and attachments depict explicit sexual acts and these and/or others contain highly demeaning portrayals of members of various segments of the population, including women, elderly persons, and uniformed school girls,” the chief justice added. Although McCaffery allegedly used a private email account to send the messages, the court said he still may have violated judicial conduct rules. U.S. Rep Bob Brady, who chairs the Philadelphia Democratic Party, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Justice McCaffery called him at 8:30 a.m. this morning to announce his retirement. “He said it would cost a whole lot of money, personal money, to fight it and he didn’t want to be on a court that had turned its back on him … he didn’t want to be a part of a court that wouldn’t support him,” Brady said, according to that article. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today said that the development moots last week’s suspension order, which provided a 30-day period for an investigation prior to the filing of formal judicial misconduct charges. The Judicial Conduct Board said in a statement today that, “since Justice McCaffery has retired and has agreed not to seek senior judge status and not to again seek elective judicial office, the board has concluded that it is in the best interest of the judiciary and the judicial system of the commonwealth to dismiss its investigations.”